Injuries to the New England Patriots finally cost them this past weekend, as New England lost their first game in the season in an overtime loss at Denver. Losing the game wasn’t the worst part of the Patriots Sunday, as they still have a comfortable four-game lead in the AFC East over the New York Jets.

The worst part was yet another injury to the Patriots offense – this time watching Tight End Rob Gronkowski go down late in the fourth quarter. Adding that injury to the slew of missing receivers as well as RB Dion Lewis means Tom Brady now has to make due with a depleted receiving corps. It will be interesting to see if the Patriots try to win as many games as possible and risk more injuries, or simply pull back and try to remain healthy over the final weeks.

The online sportsbooks list the Pats as a big 10-point home favorite this Sunday against a fading Philadelphia team that has lost three straight.

There were a few surprises in the opening weekend of NFL action, but the real headline was the number of injuries to star players. Among the notable injuries were wide receivers TY Hilton, DeSean Jackson, and Dez Bryant, quarterbacks Josh McCown and Derek Carr, and running backs Andre Ellington and Reggie Bush.

We’ll have to wait and see how those injuries affect the play on the field, but overall there were a few notable performances from a team perspective that caught our eye.

The Brady-to-Gronk connection looks to be one of the league’s best, as that combination accounted for three touchdowns in their seven-point win (as a seven-point favorite) against Pittsburgh on Thursday night.